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Feb. 18, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Bay Street stocks continued to move higher for the seventh straight session in mid-morning deals Thursday.
As the clock approached noon, the S&P/TSX composite index had gained 57.48 points, or half a percentage point, to 11,692.97.
Gauges of most sectors were in the green, with particular strength seen among gold stocks on encouraging earnings reports from major companies in the sector.
The Gold Index gathered steam, with Barrick Gold gaining 2.77%. The company today announced plans to spin off its African operations to create a new company, which will be listed in London. Also it reported that it earned $0.21 per share in the fourth quarter, compared to a loss of $0.53 per share in the year ago period.
Agnico-Eagle Mines rose 3.22% after reporting fourth-quarter net income of $0.31 per share, compared to net income of $0.15 per share in the same quarter last year.
Gold company Kinross Gold added 1.65% after it turned to black in fourth-quarter reporting net earnings of $0.34 per share, compared to net loss of $1.47 per share in the prior-year quarter.
Meanwhile, precious metals miner Dundee Precious Metals shed 1.13% even after it swung to profit reporting fourth-quarter net earnings of $0.04 per share, compared to a net loss of $1.03 in the prior-year quarter.
Among technology plays, Research In Motion edged up 0.24%. The U.S. International Trade Commission said it launched an investigation of RIM and Apple smart phones that contains digital cameras, following a complaint from Eastman Kodak Co.
HSBC Bank Canada reported higher net income of $0.30 per basic share for the fourth quarter 2009, compared to $0.22 per basic share for the fourth quarter of 2008. The stock eased 0.48%.
Insurance provider Fairfax Financial Holdings rose 0.36% after it said it will acquire Zenith National Insurance Corp. for about $1.4 billion.
Energy company Nexen Inc. added 0.87% after it turned to profit in the fourth quarter, reporting net income of $0.49 per share versus a loss of $0.35 per share in the year-ago quarter.
Oil and gas industry services provider Trican Well Services slipped 1.61% after Morgan Stanley trimmed its rating on the stock to an "underweight" from an "overweight".
Silver Standard Resources edged up 0.86% after revealing the closing of its public offering of 6.73 million common shares at a price of $17.00 per share, aggregating nearly $108.70 million.
Canadian Utilities added a marginal 0.17% after reporting fourth-quarter 2009 earnings of $1.01 per share, up from $0.91 per share in the year ago period.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said consumer prices rose 1.9% in the 12 months to January, following a 1.3% increase in December. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.4% from December. The inflation rate is just below the central bank's 2% target and is unlikely to trigger interest rate hikes before the second half of 2010.
In another report, the agency said non-residents acquired $11.2 billion of Canadian securities in December and Canadian investment in foreign securities, which was up in November after four months of divestments, slowed to $663 million in December.
The Canadian dollar surged one-10th of a cent to 95.70 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
By noon, all but one of the 14 TSX subgroups were positive. Materials vied with gold for the top spot, each jumping 1.3%, followed by metals and mining, gaining 1.2%.
Only utilities missed the party, sliding 0.2%.
The TSX Venture Exchange skidded 3.14 points to 1,515.58, while the Nasdaq Canada index gained 5.27 points to 755.79.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, blue-chips managed gains early Thursday afternoon on Hewlett-Packard's improved quarterly results, but the broader market struggled amid weak readings on jobless claims and inflation and pressure from the stronger dollar.
The Dow Jones industrial average advanced 36.73 points early on, to 10,345.97. The S&P 500 index gained 2.74 points to 1,102.25, and the Nasdaq composite added 1.78 points to 2,228.07.
The major gauges had been volatile in the first 30 minutes of the session, trading on both sides of unchanged in the aftermath of a two-day advance.
Stocks gained Wednesday thanks to a better-than-expected housing report, a mixed forecast from the Federal Reserve and some upbeat company news. The gains followed a big rally Tuesday.
But after the two-day advance, investors showed some fatigue Thursday, as evidenced by the pace of the advance and the low trading volume.
On the economic front, the Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims surged to 473,000 in the week ended Feb. 13, an increase from the prior week's upwardly revised figure of 442,000.
That was much worse than expected. Initial jobless claims were forecast to have totaled 430,000, according to a consensus of economist opinion from Briefing.com.
The producer price index rose a seasonally adjusted 1.4% in January, which was much higher than expected. The PPI was forecast to increase 0.8%, according to Briefing.com consensus, compared to a gain of 0.4% in December.
Other economic reports released Thursday included the Philadelphia Fed index, a regional reading on manufacturing and the index of leading economic indicators (LEI).
LEI rose 0.3% in January after rising 1.2% in December. Economists thought it would rise to 0.5%.
The Philadelphia Fed index rose to 17.6 in February from 15.2 in January. Economists thought it would rise to 17.
Wal-Mart Stores reported earnings of $1.17 U.S. per share versus forecasts for $1.12 U.S. Wal-Mart earned $1.03 U.S. per share a year ago.
The company also said that sales at stores open a year or more, a retail metric known as same-store sales, fell 1.6% for the quarter. Same-store sales were flat for the year.
Hewlett-Packard reported higher quarterly earnings and revenue that topped expectations, after the close Wednesday. The company also boosted its outlook for the full year. HP shares rose 1%.
AIG said it will keep up to 25% of the controversial assets that nearly caused its demise, after previously planning to sell off its entire derivatives portfolio. The company now says it will hold onto up to $500 billion U.S. in assets so as to take advantage of the recent recovery in credit markets.
AIG shares fell 1%.
Treasury prices dipped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.79%, from 3.74% Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil increased 70 cents to $78.03 U.S.
Gold prices gave back four dollars to $1,116 U.S.